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GSM Radio Air Interface, GSM Slot & Burst: GSM Signal and GMSK Modulation Characteristics
GSM Radio Air Interface, GSM Slot & Burst: GSM Signal and GMSK Modulation Characteristics
- tutorial, overview of the GSM air interface or GSM signal with details of carrier, slot
structure and transmission burst and duplex scheme and power class.
IN THIS SECTION
GSM basics tutorial and overview
GSM history
GSM network architecture
GSM interfaces
GSM radio access network
GSM frames
GSM frequency bands and allocations
GSM power class, control & amplifiers
GSM physical & logical channels
GSM codecs / vocoders
GSM handover or handoff
One of the key elements of the development of the GSM, Global System for Mobile Communications was the
development of the GSM air interface. There were many requirements that were placed on the system, and many of
these had a direct impact on the air interface. Elements including the modulation, GSM slot structure, burst structure
and the like were all devised to provide the optimum performance.
During the development of the GSM standard very careful attention was paid to aspects including the modulation
format, the way in which the system is time division multiplexed, all had a considerable impact on the performance
of the system as a whole. For example, the modulation format for the GSM air interface had a direct impact on
battery life and the time division format adopted enabled the cellphone handset costs to be considerably reduced as
detailed later.
Radiation outside the accepted bandwidth is lower than other forms of phase shift keying.
It has a constant power level which allows higher efficiency RF power amplifiers to be used in the handset,
thereby reducing current consumption and conserving battery life.
Note on GMSK:
GMSK, Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying is a form of phase modulation that is used in a number of portable radio and wireless
applications. It has advantages in terms of spectral efficiency as well as having an almost constant amplitude which allows for the use
of more efficient transmitter power amplifiers, thereby saving on current consumption, a critical issue for battery power equipment.
Click on the link for a GMSK tutorial
The nominal bandwidth for the GSM signal using GMSK is 200 kHz, i.e. the channel bandwidth and spacing is 200
kHz. As GMSK modulation has been used, the unwanted or spurious emissions outside the nominal bandwidth are
sufficiently low to enable adjacent channels to be used from the same base station. Typically each base station will
be allocated a number of carriers to enable it to achieve the required capacity.
The data transported by the carrier serves up to eight different users under the basic system by splitting the carrier
into eight time slots. The basic carrier is able to support a data throughput of approximately 270 kbps, but as some
of this supports the management overhead, the data rate allotted to each time slot is only 24.8 kbps. In addition to
this error correction is required to overcome the problems of interference, fading and general data errors that may
occur. This means that the available data rate for transporting the digitally encoded speech is 13 kbps for the basic
vocoders.
These GSM slot is the smallest individual time period that is available to each mobile. It has a defined format
because a variety of different types of data are required to be transmitted.
Although there are shortened transmission bursts, the slots is normally used for transmitting 148 bits of information.
This data can be used for carrying voice data, control and synchronisation data.
GSM burst
The GSM burst, or transmission can fulfil a variety of functions. Some GSM bursts are used for carrying data while
others are used for control information. As a result of this a number of different types of GSM burst are defined.
1. 3 tail bits: These tail bits at the start of the GSM burst give time for the transmitter to ramp up its power
2. 57 data bits: This block of data is used to carry information, and most often contains the digitised voice
data although on occasions it may be replaced with signalling information in the form of the Fast Associated
Control CHannel (FACCH). The type of data is indicated by the flag that follows the data field
3. 1 bit flag: This bit within the GSM burst indicates the type of data in the previous field.
4. 26 bits training sequence: This training sequence is used as a timing reference and for equalisation.
There is a total of eight different bit sequences that may be used, each 26 bits long. The same sequence is
used in each GSM slot, but nearby base stations using the same radio frequency channels will use different
ones, and this enables the mobile to differentiate between the various cells using the same frequency.
5. 1 bit flag Again this flag indicates the type of data in the data field.
6. 57 data bits Again, this block of data within the GSM burst is used for carrying data.
7. 3 tail bits These final bits within the GSM burst are used to enable the transmitter power to ramp down.
They are often called final tail bits, or just tail bits.
8. 8.25 bits guard time At the end of the GSM burst there is a guard period. This is introduced to prevent
transmitted bursts from different mobiles overlapping. As a result of their differing distances from the base
station.